30 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 
the currents in the section occupied by the southern group 
of oyster bars is due to the fact that the bay is much nar- 
rower here than above or below and is, in addition, consider- 
ably filled with marshy islands. Currents having a velocity 
of from .52 to .56 mile per hour were observed in the vinicity 
of White and Toby bars. 
During the period occupied by the survey of the oyster 
grounds of Worcester County, November 30 to December 17, 
1907, the density of the water over the oyster bars of the 
southern group varied from 1.009 to 1.013, and from 1.005 to 
1.009 over those of the northern group. It should be borne in — + 
mind that the survey was made at the time of year when the 
density is highest, and that the water must be very much 
fresher during the spring than is indicated by the above 
figures. 
Nearly all of the oyster bars are located inside the six-foot 
depth curve and on none of the bars was a depth greater 
than eight feet observed. Perhaps four feet at mean low 
water is the average depth of water over the natural bars. 
Hard sandy bottoms prevail on almost all of the oyster 
bars, soft muddy bottoms having been found at but few 
of the examination stations. 
A tide station was maintained from November 29th to De- 
cember 18, 1907, at George’s Island Landing and, according 
to the observations made at this station, the mean range of 
the tide in Chincoteague Bay is .7 foot, the maximum range, 
1.2 foot. 
Evidence was not wanting that the conditions in Chinco- 
teague Bay were more favorable for the growth of oysters at 
the time the survey of the oyster grounds was carried on 
and for about two years preceding, than they had been for a 
period of about twenty years. During the summer of 1905 a 
liberal set of spat became attached to the shells on all of the 
shelly areas in the bay,—the first set which had been secured 
in many years. These oysters on the bars situated in the 
upper part of the bay had made very little growth, but were 
alive and in a condition to be valuable seed for planting in 
waters more salt. Unless the projected inlet is cut through 
Assateague Island, the oyster bars located in the part of the 
bay subject to freshets disastrous to oysters, should be desig- 
nated for supplying seed oysters to planters. 
